Car crashes are unfortunately something that many drivers will experience at some point, but until you are involved in one you often don’t think about what to do in a car accident. Following are the basic things that you’d need to do both at the scene and after the accident.
At the scene of the accident
- Contact emergency services
If someone has been injured in the accident, call 000.
- Report the accident to the police
The requirement to report an accident to the police varies slightly from state to state, but generally you’ll need to contact the police if someone was injured, one of the vehicles involved in the accident needs to be towed away, or you are unable to obtain the details of the other driver.
- Exchange details with the other driver
Take down the other driver’s name, address, phone number, license number, registration number, vehicle make and model as well as details of their insurance company. You’ll need this information for insurance and legal purposes after the accident.
- Write down details of witnesses
If there were any people who witnessed the accident, take down their name, address and phone number.
- Take photos of the scene
If you can safely do so, take photos of the scene and the cars involved.
What to do after a car accident
Once you’ve left the scene of the accident, there’s a few more things you’ll need to do in order to get your car back on the road, and life continuing as normal.
Contact your insurance company and organise repairs
Whether you were responsible for the accident or not, you’ll need to contact your insurance company to report the incident. They can then go ahead and let you know exactly what you need to do to organise getting your car repaired, and towed to the repairer if it is not in roadworthy condition.
Organise a rental car while yours is being repaired
Renting a car and paying for it out of your own pocket can be expensive, but there are options available to access a rental car at no cost to you.
If you were the at-fault driver in the accident, you may have a rental car option included with your car insurance. This means that your insurance company will pay for or provide you with a rental car until yours is back on the road.
If you were not at fault in the accident, you can get a rental vehicle as well at no cost to you, with the costs being paid for by the at-fault driver’s insurer.
Acorn Rentals specialise in providing accident replacement vehicles to drivers in this situation and can make it easy for you by charging the costs of the rental vehicle directly to the at-fault insurance company. We can even drop off the vehicle to you and pick it up when you get your car back on the road.